Motion-picture-projecting device



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A. J. Timmer-tv" MOTION PICTURE PRQJESTING when Fileagaaj s. 1929 esowfal April s, 1930.

u T M mf n Patented iApr. 8, 1930 gratas ANDREW J'.- rmoNnY.' or' maw Yom-NJ Y.,'.ass1curon or oms-EAL? To WILLIAMS AND Gus mmm, or NEW Yonx, n. Y.

morronrornnnrnoancrme manon appunti@ med my s, me. -smx no'. aeosuj invention relates to motion picture proection machines, and more particularly to evices vfor diminishing the distortional effects of such machines.

' 5- In the pro'etion of motion pictures it is well known t at the pictures thrown upon a screen are-.distorted by the aberration in the spherical objective lenses in the projection tube. This distortion is most noticeable in a l. vertical direction, being a minimum at the center of the projected picture and increasing towards the edges. The error cannot be entirely corrected 1n the most expensive of lenses, and the type of lens generally used in motion picture -projection machines has a large error of distortion. w

` In the -movietone type of talking motion picture, the sound record is carried directly on the film, and inasmuch as the film is main tained at a standard width so that it will-fit standard projection machines, it is necessary to decrease the width of the' picturein 4order to accommodate the sound record strip. As

a. result,-themovietone icture is square instead of oblong as has eretofore been the 'case with the .standard picture,- .the' sound stri being shielded so that it will not show on trhe screen. In order'to present armovietone picture which is oblong in shape, expeso dients such as shutters to cut oli a portion of the top and bottom f the 4icture have been resorted to. However, suc expediente are .objectionable in that the picture is diminished in size, and the shutters are inconvenient to manipulate and unsatisfactory in other respects.

It is, therefore, an object of this inventlon to provide a device which may be attached to a standard motion picture machine to coun- 40 teract the dstortional el'ect of lens provided `with such a machine.

A further object is the provision of a device for spreading or widening the screen pro jectionI of a picture from the usual movie- 45 tone film.

A further obj ectis thelprovision of a'device for shifting the projection of a movietone lfilm so nthat it will be properly centered on a standard motion picture screen.

These and other objects are attained by the 'PATENT- @FFICE novel construction,.con1bination and arrange. ment of arts hereinafter described and shown in t xe'accompanyin drawing, constituting a material part of t is disclosure and in which: u Figure 1 is a plan view of the optical system of a motion lcture projecting machine embodA ing my invention.

igure 2 is a plan view of a portion of air optical system employing my device fol-shift er ing and spreading a picture projected from a. movietone film. v

Figure 3 is a dia animatie View indicatin the distortion in t e usual-picture projected upon ascreen.

- Figure 4 'is a similar view showing the manner in which the picture is widened and 'the distortion overcome when my device is employed in combination with a standard projecting machine. 7

' Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view showing .the usual projection of a movietone film i on a screen. Referring to the drawings, in Fi re 1 is shown the optical system of a standar motion 7| picture projection machine, which comprises f' an illuminating source 7, a rcflectin mirror 8, condensing lens 9, an aperture 10 1n a casi ing 11, land the objective lenses 12. The film 1 13 is passed adjacent the aperture 10 'between sa the casing 11 and the ob 'ectlve lens 12. and the light rays generally follow a path indicated' by the dotted lines 14. When a picture is projected upon a screen by such an optical sys. tem, the projection will have the character 8s istics shown in Figure 3,511 which there is a substantially undistortcd portion 17 and distorted edges 18.

In order to overcome this objection in the projected picture, I position as close to the 0. film as practicable a cylindrical lens 15, which spreads the light beani so that the rays follow a path indicated in Figure l by the lines 16, and causes a distortion sucicnt to counteract the distortion normally present iu the objec- Ct tive lenses 12, with the result that the projected picture is spread o r widened, and appears on the screenV substantially undistorted, as showninFigure'I-l.

In the projection of a movietone film 10 compensation must made for the decreased i width of the picture due to the sound record 1 strip, and in Figure 2 is shown an attachment I which comprises a combined prsmatic and cylndrical lens 20,20', which shifts and spreads the light beam. The dotted lines 21 indicate the path of the rays generally when the cylindrical lens is employed alone" for spreading the beam, andthe lines 22 indicate generally path df ythe rays 4after they have been shifted by the prismatic lens 20 to properl center the picture relative to the screen. Wit

'this attachment the square'picture lm of the movietone will be Aso projected as to completely cover the screen, and present a prop. erly centered picture having the'oblong shape l so familiar to motion picture audiences.

In Figure 5 is indicated the normal rojeo- Y tion of ,a movietone film, in which te pi`c effects of the objective-lens,` vbut also yhas a. i

ture is shown at 23 and a portion 24 of the screen is left blank due totlics'hielding o'fthe sound strip on the film. In Figure 4 1s indicated the projection of a movietone film when my prismaticcylindrical lens is emv ployed', the picture being properly centered and having the desired oblong shape.

c The use ofcylindrical lens not only widens the proj-ection'and diminishes the'distortional tendency to give depth to the projected picture so as to produce a highly desirable threedimensional eect.

motion picture machine -for projec'f film ent having 'decentered images, an at j comprising a combined prismatic and c lindrical lenspositioned' intermediate the o I tiv'e lens and `the gate of the machine, said combined lensjservuig to shift' projected im`- ages-to the center of aA screen tand spread the images laterally to cover the entirescreen. i 1 I In testimony 4whereof I aiix my si 'atm-e,

. Y ANDREW J. TIMO Y.

be initially set for a particular projecting ma- A chine, and thereafter require no further ad justments, this constituting a distinct advantage over the usual shutters; and other incon- V- venient'attachments at present employed on projecting machines inan attempt to attain a similar result.

While .the drawings disclose my lens set at I. 'i

a certain axis and trans osition, 1t is obvious that they may be place -at any axis or transposition' to obtain'rdierent sizes, shapes, and images on a screen. i The foregoing disclosure is to be Ngel-ded as descriptive and illustrative only, an not as restrictive or 'limitative of the invention, of. which obviously an embodiment may be con' structed including many modifications without departin from thegeneral scope herein c indicated an denoted in the appended claim.

lHaving thus described my inventio what I claim as new and desire to secure by Patent, is

In nomination with @optical system cfa i 

